Campus Recreation Center and Basketball Practice Facility

This week, you will receive an Internal Communication summarizing the most recently held meeting of the St. John’s Board of Trustees. An important agenda item discussed and approved by the Board – and of particular interest to our students – is a plan to create a best-in-class Campus Recreation Center for the University community and a new Basketball Practice Facility for the Men’s and Women’s programs.

The plan includes constructing a new Basketball Practice Facility adjacent to Gate 4, followed by the renovation and conversion of Taffner Field House and the current Basketball Annex to a Campus Recreation Center. Over the past 18 months, we explored various construction alternatives, always with the same goal in mind: prioritizing uninterrupted use of the existing recreation space for our students and employees.

We have been working to sequence the two projects in such a way that our students would enjoy access to recreational facilities while construction is happening. This was important to me, the Board, and supporters of the project. We believe the best way to ensure that access is first to build the Basketball Practice Facility. When that portion of the project is completed and the current basketball facilities are moved out of Taffner Field House, we will then be able to renovate the vacated space in Taffner to create a modern Campus Recreation Center. By undertaking the project in this way, we will ensure that our students have access to current recreational facilities until the project is complete. We expect the Basketball Practice Facility to be ready by spring 2027 with the Campus Recreation Center to open in Fall 2028.

As envisioned, the new Basketball Practice Facility will provide high-quality operations and training spaces that will help attract top talent to St. John’s, develop student-athletes on and off the court, and enhance the student-athlete experience. Funding for a significant portion of the new Basketball Practice Facility will come from generous donors, athletic department generated resources, and a multi-million-dollar grant from the New York State HECAP program. The Board of Trustees and I are committed to securing the resources needed to provide our community with exceptional spaces for athletics, intramurals, and recreation.

The project architects will initiate the design process immediately and will collaborate closely with the Division of Student Success and student leaders to conceptualize a Campus Recreation Center to better serve the needs of our students and employees.

External research and our internal student satisfaction surveys demonstrate that students want more choices to be available to them and improved on-campus experiences. That includes expanded recreation spaces and access to student wellness services. In response, St. John’s and our BIG EAST counterparts are leveraging resources and redefining the purpose of the physical campus while expanding services to support the whole student.

As described in the University’s Strategic Plan, we will continue to make strategic investments in St. John’s that will provide the foundation for a robust and dynamic institution now and in the future. Ensuring that the campus infrastructure is of high-quality is a critically important objective.

The University is actively engaged in a collaborative exercise with Gensler, a renowned leader in architectural design and campus planning, to evaluate current campus space needs, envision future possibilities, and create and implement a shared vision that resonates with the University’s values and long-term aspirations. The soon-to-be-completed St. Vincent Health Sciences Center – and now this Campus Recreation Center and Basketball Practice Facility – demonstrate the future is bright for St. John’s.

These are exciting times for our University. Together and with the help of God, we will continue to make St. John’s an even stronger institution than it is today. We will make these and additional investments in our people and in our campus to create new opportunities for our students, faculty, administrators, and staff. 

Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.
President